


The Fall of Skywalker's Jedi Order (Luke's Lessons with Rey, TLJ Rewrite)

by MinisterPrakys2049



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Broken Luke Skywalker, Creepy Snoke (Star Wars), Emotional Luke Skywalker, Other, Snoke Being a Dick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:28:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23562349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinisterPrakys2049/pseuds/MinisterPrakys2049
Summary: The galaxy's in peril. Rey must train with Luke Skywalker to develop her powers in the Force and take on the malicious First Order and its greatest warrior named Kylo Ren, the fallen child of Han Solo and Leia Organa.  She travels to Ahch-To to become a Jedi, but soon understands to true motives of Luke Skywalker's disappearence and why the Order of the Jedi must end.





	The Fall of Skywalker's Jedi Order (Luke's Lessons with Rey, TLJ Rewrite)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of the Last Jedi's scene with Rey and Luke on the Island. I wanted to make a scene where Luke's a bit more honest. I feel like it would be better for Luke to come clean from the get go. It makes him a lot less sympathetic in the end, imo. Enjoy.

The action is set in the cave-like interior of the first Jedi Temple, the highest structure on Ahch-To. As the sun sets on the island, Luke Skywalker intends to teach the young Rey from Jakku her last lesson on the Jedi Order of the Old Republic and why they need to end.

Luke stands near the opening in the main room of the Jedi temple that gives way to the cliff area where Luke taught Rey who to connect herself to the Force and fell prey to the Dark side. The sun shining on Luke’s face, he simply looks down on the island. He goes back inside, where Rey stands, near the shallow circle of water at the center of the room. Rey sits down on the edge of the pool, as Luke utters his first words.

“The Last Lesson is a lesson in the history of the Order. Now that they're extinct, the Jedi are romanticized, deified. But if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the Jedi is failure. Of how hypocrisy and hubris lead to a dark path for an entire galaxy.” Luke says, as he paces close to Rey.

Rey furrows her brow, staring at Skywalker. The only thing she’d ever heard of the Jedi was their role in defeating the Empire.

“What do you mean by that? I thought they were peacekeepers of the Republic.” Rey says.

A light and bitter chuckle escapes Luke’s relaxed lips.

“So their reputation suggests. However, they were very similar to the Sith, which were created by the Jedi themselves. At the height of their powers, they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire, and wipe them out. It was the Council of the Jedi who were responsible for creation of Darth Vader.”

Rey takes note of Vader. A name that makes men, women and children alike freeze. Much like how the name Kylo Ren made her freeze.

“I’ve heard of your father’s time as Vader and how he destroyed Sidious, but never how he turned to the dark side.” Rey says.

Luke looks off to the horizon. His facial expression shifts slightly, a sadness claiming him.

“One of the many failings of the Jedi is how similar they were to the Empire and the First Order. Granted, their practices were deemed legal by the Republic, but the result is the same, whether approved or not. Force sensitive children were taken in by the Jedi, often by force. Some masters justified it, saying the presence of the Force in them was enough consent to be recruited by the Order. And in the Outer Rim, as slavery ran rampant, without any action from the Republic or the Jedi to free victims of it, people were often stripped from their families, to be molded by the Jedi Order and their way of life, not accepting any other point of view than theirs alone. To be the perfect servants. And in the Clone Wars, they were the perfect soldiers and generals…”

The words hit Rey hard, as she’s witnessed the evil and blight that lack of action towards crimes against sentient beings brought. As a scavenger from Jakku of all places, and knowing what the First Order did to Finn. She simply frowns, looking away from Luke for a moment, pondering. She understood why the Jedi and the Republic were nothing but stories told on Jakku, while nothing ever changed and she was left to scavenge for scraps to barely survive without a soul to open up to.

“My father was taken by the Order when he was nine years old. After being a slave on Tatooine since his birth, he then became a slave to the Jedi Code, that forbid emotional attachments. That meant he’d never see his mother again. The Jedi Order and its council did nothing to protect my grandmother. She died on Tatooine.”

Luke says, in a grim tone. Rey looks at him in the eyes, a slight gasp escaping her mouth at the revelation. Luke simply looks down and continues.

“My father’s fall and seduction to the Dark side of the Force happened because of his fear to lose someone he loved again. His wife and children. That was what Sidious, who was the Republic’s Chancellor at the time, used. My father’s fear and the stagnation of the Jedi. My masters, who were themselves on the Council, wanted me to destroy Vader, omitting the fact that he was my father.”

“They lied to you?” Rey exclaims.

“Yes…. Because they believed the monster they allowed to exist couldn’t be saved. I can understand, in the end…. But they were wrong, nonetheless. They couldn’t understand why the Jedi needed to end, or at the very least change their ways. They failed Anakin Skywalker and allowed Darth Vader to be born. What saved my father wasn’t his adherence to the Jedi Order. It was his love for his family. When Sidious was destroyed, I became a legend. Luke Skywalker, the Jedi who destroyed an Empire. And over the years, I started to try and be this legend.”

Luke sits down on the edge of the pool, close to Rey.

Luke: “For years, there was peace.... and then I saw Ben. My nephew with that mighty Skywalker blood. And in my hubris, I thought I could train him, I could bring the Order back to its former glory, or what I thought made it glorious.”

“Han was…. “ Luke pauses “Han about it” he rolls his eyes.

Rey smiled at that remark.

“But Leia….trusted me with her son. I took him, and a dozen students, and began a training temple.”

Luke sounds nostalgic and emotional, regret flooding his voice.

“By the time I realized I was no match for the darkness rising in him, it was too late.” Luke says, despair in his voice.

“What happened?” Rey asks, truly curious to know why Ben Solo turned to the Dark side.

Luke looks directly into Rey’s eyes, full of sorrow. The light of the sun that was once shining on them, and even the person in front of him start to fade from Luke’s view, as he is taken back to that dark night. The fateful night that doomed his world. But Luke isn’t the only one who goes back to the event. Rey goes with him, she feels what Luke felt in those moments.

“I went to confront him.” Luke says

Luke walks into Ben’s hut, slowly as to not wake the boy up. He lay in bed, peaceful. His messy, unorganized and claustrophobic chamber felt like a tomb, swirling with darkness and light.

“It was hours after I confronted Snoke on his relationship with Ben. I wanted to protect Ben at all costs…. ”

Luke reaches his hand out and sees inside Ben’s head….

“I saw darkness…. I had sensed it in moments during his training… But when I looked inside, it was beyond what I ever imagined.”

Images of Kylo Ren slaughtering people flashed inside Luke’s head, visions of planets being blown to smithereens and Snoke laughing as carnage ensues.

Luke winces at the images and something takes him over. Something powerful….. A dark presence fills the atmosphere; suffocating any ounce of light and making the darkest of nights appear like gleaming suns. Rey is witness to that presence, as she feels Luke’s mind, in the moment. She cringes slightly.

“I saw him…. Bringing pain and death to everything I’ve ever loved. And for a moment, the world went dark, and the images wouldn’t stop. I felt every moment, like a vivid dream.”

And in Luke’s head, a billion voices appear.

“Kill him”, they said.

“Kill him”, they said.

“Give in. Fulfill your DESTINY.”, they said.

“But then I understood…. This was not my voice. And Ben’s darkness wasn’t truly his…..”

“Give in”…… Snoke was in the hut, behind Luke, whispering in his ear and his clawed hand resting on Luke’s shoulders, as Luke’s blank face is stricken with terror and confusion.

“NO!” Luke yelled.

Snoke was gone. And Luke stayed the hut, motionless….. But he finally realized that in his hand was his lightsaber. Ignited. A blaze of green illuminating the hut.

“I let Snoke get the best of me. I underestimated his power, over Ben and over me.” Luke said, filled disappointment in himself. Rey feels his regret and fear in Luke, and it is the exact same amount he had felt the moment he realized he had a weapon near his nephew.

“And I was left with shame.” He says.

Ben wakes up, looking at Luke, In absolute fear and disbelief. Luke simply looks at his nephew who’s anger he feels rising. Rey sees the boy’s eyes and realize how terrified they were. And she remembers when Kylo told her that he was indeed a monster…. The sadness in his eyes, almost as if he had no control over his fate, his actions or even his thoughts. She feels the darkness enslaving Ben Solo until he cracks under the pressure. A boy made into a monster.

“And the last thing I saw…”

Before Luke can react, Ben stretches his hand out and collapses the hut’s roof.

“…Were the eyes of a frightened boy whose uncle had failed him.”

Luke is buried under piles of rubble…. He wakes up, hauling himself out of the wreck and is met with his temple burning, bodies of his padawans lying on the ground. Rey can see them. And remembers her vision in Maz’s castle. Through the Force, Luke had felt all the death and massacre that had occurred in the Temple and falls on his knees, tearing up, his hand on R2D2’s head, as they both look on the rising blaze. Rey feels Luke's anguish and the weight of his guilt.

“When I came to, the temple was burning. He had vanished with a handful of my students. And slaughtered the rest. Leia blamed Snoke, but it was me. I failed the people I love. I failed Ben Solo and gave birth to Kylo Ren, as my masters failed. Because I was Luke Skywalker. Jedi master. A legend. That’s why Jedi as you know them have to end, why this cycle has to be broken.” Luke looks at the ground, and Rey simply stares at him, with warmth and compassion “….. Why I deserve to die alone on this island.” Tears drop from Luke’s eyes, as he sighs and breathes harshly.

Rey looks upon Luke, and puts her hand on his shoulder.

“It wasn’t your fault. He manipulated you.” Rey says.

“You don’t understand…. I allowed this to happen. I made the same mistakes my predecessors made. I tried to cut myself off from what made me a person and I left myself prey to manipulation. I became everything wrong with the Jedi when I could’ve built a better tomorrow.” Luke says, in a defeated tone. “I tried to be a Master instead of friend. An uncle…..Now, you know why I cannot leave this island. Why I cannot face him or Snoke. I’m not the one who can save Ben.”

Rey stands up, “You can’t just give up. I understand…. You may have failed him, but you’re his family. You love him. You can still help him. You saved your father, and showed him that he wasn’t gone, despite being the most hated and feared man in the galaxy. You can still turn him.”

Luke gives her a sad smile “I’m his enemy. Regardless of whether I love him or not. I failed him and I’ll have to live with it until I die. It isn’t a wrong that I can make right. And even so….I’m afraid that he could be truly gone.”

Rey approaches him, her hand on his shoulder “No one’s ever really gone, Luke.”

Luke gets up, and leaves, as Rey stays in the center of the temple. As he leaves, he pauses and says something to her, his back turned.

“I want to believe so, Rey…. I truly do. But it’s your path to find out, now… I wish you good fortune. My only advice is to not shackle yourself to legends. Let your heart guide you.”

“What if I’m not strong enough? What if I’m nowhere to be in this story?” She asked Luke.

Luke turned around and told her

“You’ll decide your place. In time. Trust in yourself. In the Force. Trust in something that won’t crush your dreams. Don’t do what I have done. You still have a chance.”

Luke then leaves the temple.

Rey understands why the Jedi must end, but doesn’t believe that she can’t learn from them. What she understands above all is that deep down, under Kylo Ren’s mask, was a boy without hope. Someone who needed guidance. And she knew she could do something. Show him that hope lived in the galaxy and in the universe.


End file.
